OCO-4& 
PAE Y2 








Public Welfare Service 


Bulletin No. 2 
(Seventh Edition) 


1927 LOF TH 
OCT 1 9 19 a 
UNIVe ig 
a ASITY og Aunojg 
ELECTRICITY 





How It Is Made and How Distributed 


For Use of School Students, English and 
Current Topics Classes, and Debating Clubs 


Issued by 


ILLINOIS COMMITTEE on PUBLIC UTILITY INFORMATION 
79 West Monroe Street - . - - Chicago, Illinois 


(Additional copies will be furnished on request) 


ELECTRICITY —The Burden Bearer 


Introductory: 


Electricity, nature’s gigantic energy and today 
the burden bearer of the world, has revolutionized 
life, commerce and industry within the memory 
oi men now alive. Within the past half century 
it has made possible greater progress than was 
made in all the preceding years. 

Man has learned to harness, distribute and util- 
ize this magic power for day and night service 
throughout the civilized world. It is banishing 
darkness, has lightened the burden of the house- 
wife and has become the silent partner of indus- 
try. 

The story of the development of the use of 
electricity is a fascinating recital. It is a story 
of progress. Electricity has brought about a rev- 
olution in industry, for it has enabled one man 
to do the work of many men, and has made pos- 
sible huge production in our factories, rapid trans- 
portation and better living conditions in our 
homes. It has built our great cities and industrial 
centers. It has torn away the barriers of time 
and distance and made all men _ neighbors. 
Through radio it has brought entertainment and 
knowledge to millions. 


Your ‘‘Thirty Slaves:” 


The Smithsonian Institution has figured that if 
all our machinery operated by electrical and steam 
power should be taken away, it would require the 
services of 30 times as many hardworking slaves 
as we have population to duplicate the work done 
in America. In other words, the use of power 
and machinery gives to every man, woman and 
child in our country the equivalent of 30 slaves, 
hence the average family of five has 150 “slaves” 
working for it. 

But instead of this army of slaves we have elec- 
tricity working for us at a “wage” so small that 
it brings its services within reach of the poorest 
man’s pocketbook; a sum so small that it would 
not pay for a servant’s meals. 

Push a button and the home is illuminated as 
by the midday sun; an electric vacuum cleaner 
banishes dirt and dust; an electric washing ma- 


chine and electric iron help with the housework; . 


a fan gives cooling breezes and an electric heater 
radiates warmth; an electric range cooks the fam- 
ily meal; an electric refrigerator makes ice, and 
many other familiar labor-saving appliances are 
placed in action. 

Today, electricity rings the door bell; tows a 
ship through the Panama Canal; lifts a great 
bridge; milks the cows; chops feed on the farm; 
increases production in factories by providing 
good lighting and ample power; lights homes and 
stores ; even provides illumination for surgical op- 
erations in hospitals. It is ready to perform these 
tasks 24 hours of each day. 

Yet it was only a short time ago—less than 50 


a 


years—that the richest kings had none of the com- 
monplace conveniences which make life easier and 
better for even the poorest Americans at the pres- 
ent time. 

This change is due to the tremendous efforts 
of the nation’s electric utilities. 


The Great Minds of Electricity: 


Many great minds have contributed to the de- 
velopment of the present-day electric central-sta- 
tion systems which provide our electricity. If 
only one name were to be mentioned, it undoubt- 
edly would be that of Thomas A. Edison. But 
before Edison, with his marvelous inventions, and 
contemporary with him, were a host of other 
electrical scientists and inventors who contrib- 
uted their part. 

Such men as Dr. William Gilbert, Benjamin 
Franklin, Luigi Galvani, Alesandro Volta, Sir 
Humphrey Davy, H. C. Oersted, A. M. Ampere, 
G. S. Ohm, Charles Wheatstone, Michael Fara- 
day, Joseph Henry, Z. T. Gramme, J. C. Max- 
well, A. Pacinotti, S. Z. deFerranti, Werner von 
Siemens, Lord Kelvin and many others did very 
important work. Since Edison’s discoveries other 
scientists, among them the late Dr. Charles P. 
Steinmetz, have added achievements of great 
value. 


Early Inventions: 


Although the electric light and power business, 
as we know it today, is a development of com- 
paratively recent origin, the foundations for it 
were laid by early experimenters in the Seven- 
teenth and Eighteenth centuries. Back in 1600, 
Dr. Gilbert, an English physician, conducted nu- 
merous experiments and made many important 
discoveries, but it was nearly a century and a half 
later before any great progress was made by 
others who studied the subject. 

Benjamin Franklin’s demonstration by his fa- 
mous kite experiment in 1752, proving that light- 
ning is an electrical phenomenon, is well known. 
About 1790 Galvani discovered a current of elec- 
tricity. Up to that time electricity had been de- 
veloped only by friction. Volta developed the 
electric battery in 1800. Oersted of Copenhagen 
in 1820 discovered the magnetic effect of electric 
current. This paved the way for the later devel- 
opment of electrical machinery. Michael Fara- 
day of England in 1831 discovered the basic prin- 
ciples on which dynamo electric machines are de- 
signed. Many other scientists and inventors made 
important discoveries during the early part of the 
Nineteenth century. 

The telegraph was the first great electrical in- 
vention. It was invented by Morse in 1837. Elec- 
troplating was perfected about the same time. The 
electric motor was developed about 1873. Radio 
is a development of the present generation. 


The First Central Station: 


Development of the electrical industry, how- 
ever, really dates from September 4, 1882, when 
the first central electricity generating station in 
the world was opened in New York city and fur- 
nished electricity for lighting a small area in 
downtown Manhattan. 

Three .years before this Edison had invented 
the electric light but the light had been regarded 
as an impractical curiosity until the central sta- 
tion, known as the Pearl Street station, was 
opened. With this opening a new epoch in elec- 
tricity began for the basic principles of this plant 
were the same as those used today by electric 
power and light companies. 

This station—opened little more than four dec- 
ades ago—served 59 customers, and from this be- 
ginning the electric industry has grown until now 
there are 20,500,000 customers, of whom 16,650,- 
000 take residential lighting service. Customers 
of electric light and power companies doubled 
between 1909 and 1915 and again: doubled in the 
six years following. The annual increase now is 
about 2,000,000 customers. 

The Pearl Street station had six generators 
with a total generating capacity of 559.5 kilo- 
watts. The capacity in the United States in 1927 
was 23,000,000 kilowatts or almost 31,000,000 
horsepower. 

Output of electricity in 1926 set a new record 
with more than 73,000,000 kilowatt-hours. The 
Commonwealth Edison Company, serving Chi- 
cago, produced a 1926 output of 3,482,632,000 kilo- 
watt-hours of energy, a 12.7 per cent increase 
over the previous year, and the largest single 
production of any steam central station in the 
world. Development of the electric industry may 
be seen from the fact the Commonwealth Edison 
Company had a generating capacity of only 640 
kilowatts in 1888. 

Today the electric industry represents an in- 
vestment of $8,400,000,000 and about $900,000,- 
000 is invested annually in new plants, equipment 
and extensions made necessary by constant de- 
mands for increased service. 


Gross revenue of the electric light and power 
companies of the country in 1926 was $1,630,000,- 
000. The industry is owned by more than 2,500,- 
000 men and women investors, banks, insurance 
companies and others whose money has pro- 
vided funds for building up the great electric 
systems whose services are available to all. 


Where Electricity Comes From: 


Electric light and power service starts at the 
central generating plant—called the “central sta- 
tion’”—where electric energy is produced in large 
quantities. From these central stations wires 
carry the energy to the homes, stores and fac- 
tories of the nation—to provide illumination, to 
turn the wheels of the machines in factories, to 
operate electric railway cars and to help the 
housekeeper by supplying energy for her vacuum 
cleaner, toaster, flat iron, washing machine and 
other appliances. 

Electricity is produced most economically in 
central stations where large generators are used, 
and it is transmitted and distributed at much 
less expense if all of the electrical needs of one 
large community, or several small communities, 
are supplied from one common system of wires. 
Therefore, the modern tendency is to replace 
small generating stations with substations, which 
are distributing stations for the large systems. 
This gives the benefit of the economies of the 
large stations to small communities. 

There are two kinds of electricity made and 
distributed by a central station—‘“direct” and 
“alternating.” Direct, or continuous current, 
flows constantly in one direction. This kind of 
current, because it cannot be sent any great dis- 
tance, is used largely in the congested centers of 
populous cities. Alternating current flows first in 
one direction, then reverses, but so fast that the 
changes cannot be detected in an electric light by 
the naked eye, except in low cycles, in which it 
is visible. This has resulted in adoption of a gen- 
eral standard of 60 cycles for lighting. Alternat- 
ing current can be sent, economically, hundreds 
oi miles, and, therefore, now is used almost uni- 
versally. 


Statistical Data Showing Development of Electric Light and Power Industry 
in the United States During the Last 25 Years 


Capital Invested. 


$504,740,352)$2,175,678,266 | $5,100,000,000/ $5,800,000,000/$6,600,000,000) $7,500,000,000) $8,400,000,000 


Gross Revenue...... 78,735,500} 302,273,398] 1,084,000,000} 1,300,000,000] 1,350,100,000/ 1,475,000,000} 1,630,000,000 
Kilowatt Capacity 1,212,200 5,165,439 14,313,438 17,000,000 18,840,000 20,000,000 23,000,000 
Total Customers 

Aa Ny 7 eae 1,465,060 3,837,518 12,353,790 14,400,000 16,500,000 18,500,000 20,500,000 
Residence Cus- 

tomers ............. ey 9,903,830 11,620,000 13,350,000 15,000,000 16,650,000 
Commercial Cus- 

eoniers)... 1,988,020 2,260,000 2,560,000 2,850,000 3,140,000 
Power Customers 461,940 520,000 590,000 650,000 710,000 


Total Generation 
in Kilowatt- 
NOucS ..... 





2,507,051,515! 11,569,109,885!44,084,575,000! 51,498,450,000! 59,013,590,000! 65,870,000,000!73,000,000,000 


How Electricity Is Made Available: 


Electricity is produced from some form of heat 
energy, as that obtained by the combustion of 
coal, oil, gas or wood; from some form of me- 
chanical energy like that of falling water or (to 
a slight extent) wind power, or from chemical 
energy, as in batteries. In the case of water- 
power plants the momentum of the falling water 
is used to revolve waterwheels which in turn op- 
erate electric generators. The water may be small 
in volume but have a great pressure because of a 
high fall, or it may have low pressure and much 
volume, or have any combination of these quali- 
ties. 

The most desirable class of streams for water 
power developments are those having a fairly con- 
stant flow throughout the year. This covers a 
comparatively small number of streams. 

Utilization of these streams is expensive as 
water-storage facilities are necessary to keep 
water available throughout the year. 

Then there are “flashy” streams—erratic and 
experiencing sudden and short flood periods with 
intervening periods of little or no water. They 
are uneconomical for development. ‘This class 
includes many Middle Western streams. 

Water power development also may be uneco- 
nomical if the proposed site is so far from the 
power market as to make necessary an extremely 
expensive transmission line, or because of large 
power losses through transmission over a great 
distance. Because most of the streams in Illinois 
are in the “flashy” class very little water power 
has been developed in this state, less than 4 per 
cent of the electricity being produced in this man- 
ner. 

Sometimes electric generating plants are built 
right at the coal mine in Illinois and other states. 
This is seldom practical, however, as efficient op- 
eration of turbines requires from 500 to 700 tons 
of water for every ton of coal burned, to chill the 
condenser tubes and to condense steam after it 
has done its work in the turbines. 

In New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, 
and other large cities, more water is pumped for 
condensing purposes in electric generating sta- 
tions than the city water-works pump for all oth- 
er purposes. This need of an abundance of water 
is an outstanding reason why more generating 
plants cannot be built at the mouths of coal 
mines, where there is seldom a large supply of 
water. 

At the central station the coal is handled by 
mechanical conveyors and crushers, themselves 
operated by electricity, and is delivered to the 
automatic stokers of the furnaces without being 
touched by human hands. The other raw material 
required is water. This is delivered to the 
boilers, where the heat of the burning coal con- 
verts it into steam. The steam is piped to the 
turbines, where the impact of its expansive force 
and its momentum rotate the shafts of the elec- 
tric generators. 


The Turbine: 


The principle of the steam turbine is very sim- 
ple. It is practically the same as the water tur- 
bine, and the water turbine is only an elaborated 
water wheel. The latter receives its power from 
water pressure of rivers or reservoirs of water 
so stored that when the water flows it strikes 
the blades of the wheel, rotating it and producing 
power with its pressure. In like manner steam 
generated in central station boilers by coal is 
directed against the blades of a steam turbine 
which rotates from this impact, perhaps 1,800 
times a minute, and produces power. These tur- 
bines—“electric machines” or generators, as we 
now call them—are attached directly to the shaft 
without the use of belts. 


The energy we have so far pictured as being 
created in a central generating station is mechan- 
ical and not electrical energy, but right here, in 
the generator, the transformation takes place. The 
power that goes into the turbine as mechanical 
energy is taken from the generator at the other 
end of the shaft as electrical energy. 


In spite of the enormous power produced by 
a modern generator, the principle of its work is 
based on simple laws. Early experiments by the 
famous Faraday (born in England, 1791) marked 
the beginning of the electric generator, and the 
same laws that Faraday worked out are applied 
in the making of the huge generators of today. 
Nothing of importance has been added except 
elaboration of machinery. Faraday used a coil 
of wire and a magnet. Each time the magnet 
was thrust into the coil its magnetism was found 
to cause a flow of electricity in the coil, as indi- 
cated by a compass placed near the coil of wire. 
The same phenomenon takes place when a gen- 
erator rotates. It contains magnets and coils of 
wires, which are, of course, much stronger than 
those used by Faraday. As long as the magnet 
rotates inside the coil, electricity is generated. 
Nowadays the turbine and the generator are so 
closely related they are made in one complete 
unit known as a “turbo-generator.” 

The electricity which comes from the genera- 
tors is so powerful that it must be controlled 
very carefully. This is accomplished by means 
of copper switching devices. Copper is used be- 
cause it is one of the best conductors of electricity 
and is relatively cheap. Alternating current is 
often raised to high voltages, because at high 
pressure it can be economically transmitted long 
distances by comparatively small copper wires, 
and its voltage can be changed by transformers. 
Direct current is not adaptable for this long-dis- 
tance, high-voltage transmission, and its voltage 
cannot be changed by transformers. 


The Transformer: 


Although high voltages are necessary for trans- 
mission lines, electricity is generated and is used 
for lighting and power purposes at low voltages. 


Transformers are used, therefore, to “step” the 
voltage up as the current comes from the genera- 
tor and to “step” it down when it leaves the 
transmission line. Sometimes huge transformers 
are used in substations from which energy is 
distributed to large sections of a city or to small 
towns. The transformers, which are a familiar 
sight on poles in streets or alleys, finally reduce 
the pressure to a safe point for domestic use and 
send it into the dozen or more houses near which 
the transformer is located. 


The Basic Laws of Electrical Energy: 


Something very interesting takes place within 
the transformer. We have already noted above, in 
connection with the generator, that when a piece 
of magnetized iron was moved through a coil of 
wire electricity was produced. Early experiment- 
ers found that when electricity flowed through a 
coil of wire around a piece of iron magnetism was 
produced in the iron. These two principles taken 
together illustrate how a transformer works. 
Electrical energy travels from the power station 
into the transformer box and into a coil of wire 
which surrounds a piece of iron. The electricity 
in the coil magnetizes the iron and the magnet- 
ized iron in its turn produces electricity in an- 
other coil, which is around the magnet but entire- 
ly separate from the first coil. The pressure in the 
coils is proportionate to the turns of wire. The 
more wires in either of these two coils the more 
pressure we have; therefore, if one coil has ten 
times as many wires as the other, or “secondary” 
coil, the pressure at the other, or “secondary,” 
side of the transformer will be reduced to one- 
tenth of what it was when it entered it. 


From the other side of the transformer elec- 
tricity is led at low pressure into the house or 
factory through a service switch where it can be 
turned on or off, and then through a meter, which 
measures the current. After that it is available 
for household uses. In the case of the large 
neighborhood substations power taken from the 
secondary side of the large transformers is often 
used to operate street railways or street lighting 
circuits. 


Electricity Has Revolutionized Industry: 


Electricity has made America machineland. 
There are no less than 3,000 uses for electricity. 
Most oi them are in industry, and the use of elec- 
tricity for power, as well as for lighting and heat- 
ing in the home, is growing steadily. 

Although the use of electrical energy for driv- 
ing motors is its most common employment in 
industry, aside from illumination, it is being used 
more and more for generating heat and bringing 
about chemical reactions in many manufacturing 
processes. 

In the latter field electricity has a wide use in 
electro-chemistry, a department of industrial en- 
deavor with which most people are not familiar. 


In electro-chemistry, electricity is used to break 
down, build up, cover, uncover, separate and 
blend. Some remarkable accomplishments result. 

These are probably better understood by refer- 
ence to the experiment conducted in school lab- 
oratories of reducing water to its component 
parts, hydrogen and oxygen, by passing an elec- 


tric current through it. That is an example of 


breaking down. Electro-plating is an example of 
the building up process. In electro-plating, cop- 
per plates are immersed in a solution of silver 
nitrate and by passing current through the solu- 
tion, silver is deposited on one of the plates. 

There are many other reactions brought about 
by electricity on a large scale which are the bases 
of the electro-chemistry industry. Eighty per 
cent of the copper produced in the United States 
is separated from ore by electricity. Gold and 
silver are separated from the ore in the same 
way. Aluminium, nickel and silver are “recov- 
ered” from ore and waste. Almost all gold plated 
jewelry is gilded by electrolysis. 

Use of electricity for smelting ore is a compar- 
atively recent development. Making of “electric 
steel” is a fast-growing industry. 

By using electricity, vanadium and chrome— 
new kinds of steel—were produced. These are 
used for automobile and airplane parts and for 
castings where a “perfect texture is necessary. 
Electric steel is also utilized in making tools 
such as drilling bits which must stand hard usage. 


Electricity as a Producer of Heat: 


Electric heat is being applied to iron, nickel, 
copper, silver, brass and bronze and other non- 
ferrous metals. Electric furnaces produce such 
electro-chemical “mysteries” as ferro manganese 
silicon, tungsten, molybdenum, chromium and ti- 
tanium, abrasive materials such as carborundum, 
alaxite and magnesite. 


During recent years electricity has heen used 
extensively for operating electric ranges in those 
communities which do not have gas available. 
Through perfection of this appliance the house- 
wife in the smaller.community is able to cook as 
efficiently, cleanly and with the same degree of 
comfort as is possible in the larger cities. 


Electricity is being used extensively in coal 
mining. In Illinois, alone, hundreds of mines pur- 
chase all or part of their power from central sta- 
tions. Formerly, when coal mine operators gen- 
erated: their own electricity, 20 pounds of coal 
were burned to produce one kilowatt-hour. As 
modern central stations produce this same en- 
ergy with less than 2 pounds of coal, a great con- 
servation of fuel has taken place and the cost of 
power used in mining coal has been lowered. 


Future Development of 


Railroad Electrification: : 


One of the great developments of the future 
will be the more general electrification of steam 


railroads, as the experimental stage of this use ol 
electricity seems to be passed. In several cities 
in the United States the railroad terminals have 
been electrified, and through Montana, Idaho and 
Washington one large steam railroad has electri- 
fied its tracks for 600 miles over mountains. Four- 
thousand-ton trains go up and down steep moun- 
tain grades under perfect control at speeds never 
attained under steam operation, and with a regu- 
larity that leaves no doubt as to the practicabil- 
ity of electrification. All railroads leading into 
New York City are electrified within the city 
limits. 

In Illinois, the Illinois Central Railroad has 
electrified its tracks for suburban service, and is 
working on a general electrification program for 
its entire terminal facilities. When first placed in 
operation the electrification comprised from two 
to six parallel tracks extending thirty-five miles 
from the Randolph street terminal, and, with two 
electrified branch lines, made a total of 125 track 
miles. When completed, there will be as many 
as fifteen parallel tracks electrified, and in all there 
will be about 400 miles of track equipped, for elec- 
tric trains. 


Power Obtained from Central Stations: 

When the Illinois Central Railroad’s manage- 
ment planned for electrification of its Chicago 
terminal, it had expert engineers investigate a 
supply of power for the project. They reported 
that power could not only be purchased cheaper 
from electric light and power companies than it 
could be generated by the railroad, but that a pur- 
chased supply was much more reliable. Seven 
substations, provided by the central station com- 
panies serving Chicago and vicinity, supply the 
railroad with power for the operation of its trains, 
for its signals, and for its repair shops. 


Has Many Advantages Over Steam: 


Some of the public advantages of electrified 
steam railroad suburban service are greater com- 
fort, speed and frequency of service; extension 
of suburban residence districts, thus making avail- 
able a greater number of attractive home-sites ; in- 
crease in value of real estate; beautifying of resi- 
dential and shopping districts; advertising value 
to the city as a whole; elimination of the smoke 
nuisance; lessening of noise nuisance; making 
possible sub-surface operation of trains, which 
opens a way for through streets and lessens traf- 
fic congestion; and aiding the growth of small 
suburban towns by making them more a part of 
the big city. 

Engineers say that if all steam railroads were 
electrified and energy furnished by coal-burning 
generating stations, 136,000,000 tons of coal would 
be saved each year. If hydro-electric generating 
stations furnished one-third of the electricity, 
162,000,000 tons of coal would be conserved each 
year. 


Farm Electrification: 


Electric light and power companies are devot- 
ing much time and effort to the electrification of 
farms in the belief that electricity will increase 
the productivity and the earnings of farm work- 
ers and make their life more pleasant, as it has 
done for residents of towns and cities. 

The use of electrically-operated labor-saving 
machinery has made the American worker the 
best paid worker in the world. The American 
farmers use more machinery and produce more 
per capita than do farmers in any other country. 
The tendency is towards the use of mechanical 
and electric power in place of man-power and 
animal-power. 

The value of electricity on the farm is deter- 
mined by both its economic advantage and its 
betterment of living conditions. From an eco- 
nomic standpoint, its value is measured by the 
labor displaced, increased production, and reduced 
cost of operating the farm. Its other value is that 
it makes farm life more pleasant, keeps the boys 
and girls from leaving for towns and cities, and 
gives to the farmer a pride and satisfaction that 
cannot be measured. Also, it opens up profitable 
lines of farming, which many farmers avoided 
because of the large amount of labor involved. 
Dairy farming is one of these farm activities 
which is made easier by electricity. Milking can 
be done electrically, the separator can be operated 
by an electric motor, and the milk and cream 
kept fresh and sweet in an electric refrigerator. 


Farm Electrification 
Experiments in Illinois: 

On ten farms near Tolono, Illinois, where there 
is a large diversity of operations and products, 
the University of Illinois is conducting experi- 
ments in rural electrification. Electric light and 
power companies of the state, farmers’ organiza- 
tions, and manufacturers of farm machinery and 
electric appliances are co-operating with the 
school. Accurate records of the cost of electricity 
used and the value of the products are kept. Elec- 
tricity is being used in dairying, poultry raising, 






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stock farming, grain farming, seed production 
and general farming. It is believed that these 
experiments will bring about a more general use 
oi electricity on Illinois farms. 

Among the uses which have been found for elec- 
tricity on farms are: grain elevating, ensilage 
cutting, feed grinding, grain cleaning, grain 
threshing, hoisting hay, milking, mixing concrete, 
pumping water, refrigeration, sawing, cream sepa- 
rating, auxiliary heating, brooding chicks, incu- 
bating chicks, cooking, ironing, water heating, 
barn ventilation, corn shredding, corn shelling, 
timber utilization, dish washing, and lighting of 
houses, barns, poultry houses and out-buildings. 

Already many farms have electricity delivered 
to them by the central station plants and it is to 
be expected that within a short time the rural 
districts will have the same efficient and modern 
service possible in the thickly populated cities. 
As farmers develop more uses for electricity, the 
extension of service will increase. 


What an Electrical Map of the 
U. S. A. Would Look Like: 


If one could see, upon a map of the United 
States, outlines of systems for generating, trans- 
mitting and distributing electricity the impres- 
sion would be something like that of seeing a 
number of inter-connected spider-webs, each large 
generating station being the center of its own 
web. Each system may have several generating 
stations, the whole network being tied together 
in such a way that the breakdown of a machine 
in one generating station or the failure of a sub- 
station would not, usually, mean loss of service 
to the customer, other sources of supply being 
available in emergency. 

The same plants that serve the cities now fur- 
nish service to the smaller communities and to 
the farms. They are no longer local distributors, 
but reach out as far as their wires are strung. 
One company may serve hundreds of communi- 
ties from its central station energy-producing 
plants. That is why the rendering of service is 
now regulated by the state. It has outgrown its 
original city boundaries. 








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Not Restricted to Cities: 


The first electric generating stations and dis- 
tribution systems were constructed in large cities, 
such as Chicago and New York, about 40 years 
ago. 

At first many small stations were constructed 
in the same city to serve very restricted areas 
which did not exceed two miles square. The art 
of generating and distributing electric energy ad- 
vanced rapidly so that about 15 years after the 
completion of the first plants in the large cities 
many of these small plants were superseded by 
large generating stations which supplied the en- 
tire community. 

About 25 years ago small central stations were 
built also in communities of 5,000 population and 
larger. Residents of smaller communities and 
farmers did not have electric service, for develop- 
ments in the electric art did not permit their hav- 
ing service without incurring a financial loss to 
the electric companies. Therefore, a large portion 
oi the people in the United States did not have 
electricity available. 


Early Systems Small: 

The early systems in most small and medium- 
sized towns did not operate 24 hours per day but 
only at night from dusk to dawn, as practically 
the entire business supplied in those days con- 
sisted of lighting. 

About 25 years ago the electric motor was com- 
ing into general use. Where the demand for 
electricity for motors was large, the central sta- 
tions found it profitable to supply electricity the 
entire day. However, in many small communities 
there were not enough motors used to pay the 
expenses of electric service during the day-light 
hours. 

The generating stations of 15 to 20 years ago 
in smaller communities were expensive to operate 
and the rates were high. Many stations charged 
20 cents per kilowatt-hour, which seems ridicu- 
lous today—although this rate is still charged in 
some towns in Illinois where modern equipment 
is not used. 

About this time rapid strides were made in 
the development of the steam turbine which could 
be made in large sizes with greater generating 
capacity than the old-style reciprocating engine. 
Also, the turbine generated a kilowatt-hour of 
electricity with less coal. 


Transmission Line Systems: 


This economy in operation showed it was best 
to serve small communities electricity over high- 
voltage transmission lines from large, central 
stations. Then many farms also received the 
same service formerly had only in large cities, 
and they had 24-hour service at lower rates; 
thousands of communities having only dusk-to- 
dawn service and centers too small to support 
generating stations were afforded electric service 
for the first time. 


In no section has this great development been 
more marked than in Illinois. Before transmis- 
sion lines were built, electric service was avail- 
able to about only 200 communities, and usually 
only for part of the 24 hours. 


Illinois Stands High: 


At the present time, after a ten-year period of 
continuous construction of transmission lines 
throughout the state by many public service com- 
panies, electric service is being rendered to more 
than 1,200 organized communities, 93 per cent of 
which are served by transmission lines and are 
receiving 24-hour service. Many of the smaller 
communities, which are served by isolated gen- 
erating stations, still have electricity available 
only part of the day. 


There are about 8,000 miles of high-voltage 
transmission lines in Illinois. The predominating 
voltage of these lines is 33,000, although some are 
as high as 132,000. Branching off from these great 
energy lines are thousands of miles of lateral 
wires which bring the electricity to the user. 

On January 1, 1927, there was installed and 
in operation in central stations of the state 1,836,- 
538 kilowatts or 2,461,847 horsepower of generat- 
ing capacity. 

Each customer of the central stations in Illi- 
nois uses, on an average, 3,663 kilowatt-hours of 
electricity annually. 

Illinois is second among the states in the num- 
ber of electric customers served by central sta- 
tions. On January 1, 1927, it had 1,679,680 cus- 
tomers, an increase of 99,030 over the previous 
year. Illinois also ranks high in home saturation 
of electric lighting, more than three-quarters of 
its residences being supplied with electricity. 

Although Illinois has but 6.1 per cent of the 
population of the United States it has 9 per cent 
of the electric customers. 


Superpower in the Middle West: 


Superpower, or the inter-connection of large 
generating stations by high-voltage transmission 
lines, is not a development of Illinois alone. It 
is a development of areas whose boundaries are 
fixed by geographical barriers or economic con- 
ditions and not by state lines. 

Illinois’ great generating stations and trans- 
mission lines are part of a vast superpower sys- 
tem extending from the Dakotas to West Vir- 
ginia, and including Ohio, Pennsylvania and Ken- 
tucky. Thousands of communities in these states 
are linked together. Recently Illinois’ super- 
power system was made a part ofa vast system of 
interconnection reaching from the Mississippi 
valley to Boston and from Michigan’s Upper Pen- 
insula to the Gulf of Mexico. 


Big Benefits Obtained: 


Illustrative of the economy of large generating 
stations is the saving of fuel. Small, isolated 
generating stations burn about 15 pounds of coal 


to generate one kilowatt-hour of electricity. The 
large stations, such as are a part of the super- 
power system, consume, on an average, less than 
2 pounds of coal per kilowatt-hour. This is im- 
portant because virtually all of the electricity 
generated in Illinois is made from coal, most of 
which is mined within the state. 

The benefits of this great gain in efficiency have 
been given to the customers in the form of lower 
rates, 24-hour service to all communities served . 
and adequate power supplies for industries at rea- 
sonable rates. Notwithstanding the fact that coal 
today costs nearly twice as much per ton as 
in pre-war times, the average rates now charged 
are very much less than the average rates ten 
years ago in these same communities. If such 
systems had not been constructed, the average 


rates now prevailing would be at least 50 to 80 


per cent higher in order to pay the cost of op- 
erating the smaller, inefficient stations. 


Inter-connection Assures 
Continuous Service: 


Another advantage of inter-connection is that 
it insures a continuous electricity supply to com- 
munities, even in emergencies. 

Should a tornado, earthquake, fire or other ca- 
tastrophe put out of service the generating station 
of a community which is a part of a superpower 
system, other communities in the system, even 
though many miles away, could each furnish the 
stricken town some electricity, and this aggregate 
power would enable the community so disabled 
to “carry on.” This has been done many times. 

The importance of this protection is realized 
when it is considered that in many towns water 
for fire protection and sanitation is pumped by 
electricity. 

Also, a sudden, large demand for electricity, 
such as for irrigation pumps during a severe 
drought, can be met by superpower. 

Aiter most of the existing transmission systems 
in Illinois have been inter-connected, and the 
loads served by these systems continue to increase 
to much larger amounts, there undoubtedly will 
be constructed new, large-capacity, high-voltage 
trunk lines, or true superpower lines, which will 
serve as feeder lines to the existing transmission 
systems at a large number of intersecting points. 
Such superpower lines will receive their supply 
of energy from very large central stations of the 
most efficient type, and the existing transmission 
lines will then occupy the relative position of 
primary distribution lines, with the new trunk 
lines serving as the transmission source. Such a 
development will not render useless any of the 
systems now in service, but will increase their 
usefulness and thus enable increased supply to all 
of the communities. 


Electricity Cannot be Stored: 


One characteristic of electrical power which has 
an interesting bearing on central station enter- 


yam 


















D 
kryatl Cy ff 
ULL EP Ce | J 


This map shows 
the location of the 
high tension elec- 
tric transmission 
lines, ranging 
from 2,300 to 132,000 volts, which 
compose the “backbone” of the 
great energy systems of the com- 
panies serving the state’s people. 
Radiating from these “trunk lines” 
are thousands of miles of distribu- 
tion lines, covering the state like a 
closely woven web, which carry the 
electricity into the homes, offices 
and factories. 



































Illinois’ electric 
power supply sys- 
tems are a part of 
the great net-work 
of superpower 
lines that pool the 
energy resources 
and needs of thou- 
sands of communi- 
ties in an area ex- 
tending from the 
Mississippi Valley 
to the Atlantic 
seaboard, and 
which _ includes 
Pennsylvania, 
Ohio and Ken- 
tucky, and from 
Michigan to the 
Gulf of Mexico. 

Illinois is the 
center of the 
world’s greatest 


power pool. 


prises is that it cannot be stored. This is not 


literally true, because you are familiar with dry 
batteries and the larger storage batteries, but for 
general power purposes in the larger cities bat- 
teries are not practical, except as an emergency 
reserve. 

The result is that when a customer of a central 
station company makes a “demand” upon the 
company for electricity by turning a switch, the 
company must be prepared to supply this de- 
mand instantaneously. 

Unfortunately central stations cannot make up 
in advance enough electricity to supply their cus- 
tomers for a day or a week or a month, as a store 
stocks up with goods in advance of its customers’ 
demands. This requires that the central station 
maintain a plant and equipment large enough to 
deliver the huge amounts of electricity for the 
dark and busy days of December, even though 
during the month of June, when the days are 
long, a much smaller plant costing very much 
less money might suffice. 

Similarly, plant and equipment must be large 
enough to take care of the very heavy demands 
of the late afternoons of winter months, whereas 
during the rest of the day and night only a small 
fraction of that amount of electricity would be 
demanded. These highest points of “demand” 
are called the “peak load” and the central station 
managers always have to figure on investing 
enough money to take care of the “peak load.” 


Watching the Service Demand: 


Let us go to the electric lighting company and 
see for a day just how electricity is made to do 
its work. We walk into the office of the operat- 
ing manager, the guardian over the flow of elec- 
tricity. Every minute of the day he can tell some- 
thing interesting about what the citizens of his 
community are doing. Before him he has a long 
sheet on which lines indicate the rise and fall in 
the use of the service he is furnishing. His fingers 
are on the “pulse” every minute. The line which 
he is watching is called the “load,” which simply 
means the total amount of service being used at 
a given moment. 

It is 5 o’clock in the morning; the line is run- 
ning along straight. It is 5:30 a. m.; the line 
energetically moves upwards. Some people are 
rising and turning on the lights. It is 6 a. m.; 
the line has shot far up. Many people are 
getting up, but it is still dusk, and they must 
have light. It is 7 a. m; the line has taken an 
almost perpendicular upturn. Practically every- 
one in town is now up; some are using electricity 
to read the morning paper, some for cooking; the 
street car systems have put on many cars hauling 
people to work; the industries have turned on 
electricity for operating the big machines. It is 
8 o’clock; his line shows that out in the residence 
districts but little current is being used now, but 
in the manufacturing centers the load is tremen- 
dous. So he watches the current that started to 


10 


go to the residential district shift to the manu- 
facturing district. The street car load is much 
less now than it was while people were going to 
work. 

It is midday. The residential district load has 
“picked up” a little. Some women are ironing, 
others using sewing machines, washing machines, 
or vacuum cleaners, still others are cooking lunch. 

Afternoon sees his line up near the top of his 
sheet and remaining steady. Most of the current 
is being used in the manufacturing plants. 

Five o’clock comes. The mills, with the ex- 
ception of the great electric furnaces in the steel 
mills and smelters, close down their machinery. 
But the workers must get home. The transporta- 
tion electric load swells. The residential districts 
are again demanding electricity for lighting and 
cooking: His load shifts over to that side. Until 
6 p. m. it may sag a trifle, while the industrial 
load has eased, but then the great demand comes 
for the evening lighting of the homes, and it picks 
up again. 

Then comes 9 o’clock. The children have been 
put to bed. Many lights have been turned off. 
The load sags; 10 o’clock and many grown-ups are 
going to bed and it sags more; 11 o’clock and the 
majority are in bed and the demand now is far be- 
low that of an hour before. The great engines in 
the power plant can be eased up and repairs and 
cleaning can be done for a repetition of this ser- 
vice in the morning. 

What the electric manager saw, the gas and 
telephone and transportation traffic men saw 
similarly, their lines changing only to represent 
the happenings in their particular branches of 
giving service. 


Government Regulation: 


Electric light and power companies are regu- 
lated as are other public utilities such as gas, 
street railway and telephone companies. In practi- 
cally every state in the Union they are regulated 
by state commissions created for that purpose. 

In Illinois the regulatory body is the Illinois 
Commerce Commission. Illinois has had state reg- 
ulation since Jan. 1, 1914, when the [Illinois Pub- 
lic Utilities Commission came into existence under 
an act passed by the state legislature during the 
previous year. In 1921 the legislature modified 
the law to some extent and changed the name of 
the regulatory body to the Illinois Commerce 
Commission. This commission exercises super- 
vision over the rates and service of the utilities 
and acts as impartial judge in all controversies 
which might arise, so that no stumbling blocks 
may be thrown in the path of proper and continu- 
ous development of the various utility services for 
all of the people. 


Investors’ Money Builds Utilities: 


_In one important respect the public utility is un- 
like almost any other business in the nation. The 
electric light and power, gas, telephone, street rail- 


‘way and steam railroad systems have had to be 
built with money obtained continuously from in- 
vestors. Under the prevailing system of regula- 
tion they can make no “profits” in the sense other 
businesses do. ; 

They are allowed to charge only rates that 
will permit the earning of operating expenses, 
plus a fair return on the money invested in their 
properties. Consequently all additions and ex- 
tensions must be financed by the sale of new se- 
curities to thrifty investors. 

Whereas, in ordinary businesses — dry goods 
business, for example —the merchant may rea- 
sonably expect to turn over his capital (buy and 
sell a complete stock of goods) three to five times 
each year, the utility business receives from its 
customers, each year, approximately one-fifth of 
the money its property represents. 

The most common form of financing utility 
companies is through the issuance of bonds— 
which are mortgages on the actual property—to 
the extent of 50 to 60 per cent of the value of the 
property ; and through the sale of preferred stock, 
on which there is a definite, fixed earning or divi- 
dend rate, to a total of about 25 per cent of the 
property value; and through sale of common 
stock, which is income-bearing only from earn- 
ings accruing after payment of bond interest and 
preferred stock dividends, to the value of the re- 
mainder of the property holdings. 


Service Needs More Than Equipment: 

Service of these commodities necessary to mod- 
ern life does not begin, nor end, with the mere 
installation of power plants, distributing plants, 
the maze of equipment, nor the building up of 
great bodies of employes as the operating forces. 
There are three fundamental elements back of all 
this: 

1. Individual minds: This is personified in the 
man who sees the possibilities of rendering ser- 
vice to a community; who devotes his time, ex- 
perience and mind to skilfully planning this ser- 
vice to meet needs; who interests people having 
money in his “big idea,” organizes a company and 
gives the public the benefits of his initiative. 

2. The investors: Those thrifty persons who 
save part of their earnings with which they pur- 
chase stocks and bonds of the company with the 
expectation that the company will succeed and 
earn them a fair return on their savings—the 
people whose money makes possible the extension 
of service for the prosperity and welfare of the 
community. 

3. The inventors: The great minds who made 
possible the great machines and wonderful ap- 
paratus that is necessary to produce service and 
who are striving constantly for improvement, they 
too expecting financial reward for their labors. 


Schools Now Hold Generations That 
Must Carry On the Utilities: 


These three elements of service form an un- 
breakable chain. All three are interdependent. 


11 


Should any one of them become discouraged, de- 
velopment would lag immediately and the nation 
would be the loser. 

In the schools today are those who soon must 
be in the harness, working out the problems of 
light, heat, transportation and communication for 
the nation and the world; problems that will be 
no less complex than those which the great pio- 
neers have faced. The tremendous fight of the 
pioneers—those of the “first generation,” the men 
with the vision—has not ended. Within the 
next ten years the demands of the nation for ser- 
vice probably will be double those of today as a 
result of the more complex civilization, increase 
in population and need of more intensive and 
economical production. 


Definitions of Electrical Terms: 
AN OHM :— 

The practical unit of electrical resistance. It 
is named for G. S. Ohm, the German scientist. 

Illustration: The difficulty with which water 
flows through a pipe is determined by the size, 
shape, length and smoothness, etc., of the pipe. 
This difficulty with which current flows along a 
wire is determined by the size, length and material 
of the wire. The electrical resistance is measured 
in ohms. 

AN AMPERE:— 

A unit of measurement to determine the rate of 
flow of electric current along a wire. It is named 
after A.M. Ampere, French mathematician. 

Illustration: The rate at which water flows 
through a pipe is generally measured in gallons 
per minute. The rate of flow of electric current 
is measured in amperes. 

A VOLT :— 

A volt represents the force required to cause a 
current of one ampere to flow when applied to a 
circuit of unit resistance. The name is derived 
from Volta, the Italian physicist. 

Illustration: The flow of electric current in a 
single circuit is just about the same thing as the 
flow of water through a pipe. The three principal 
elements are found under practically identical cir- 
cumstances, namely, pressure imposed to induce 
flow, rate of flow and resistance to flow. Pressure 
exerted to send electricity along a wire is some- 
times known as “electro-motive-force” and is 
measured in volts. 


AN ELECTRO-MAGNETIC UNIT :— 

A system of units based upon the attraction or 
repulsion between magnetic poles, employed to 
measure quantity, pressure, etc., in connection 
with electric currents, 


A WATT :— 

A watt is the unit of electrical power produced 
when one ampere of current flows with an electric 
pressure of one volt applied. A watt is equal ap- 
proximately to 1/746 of one horse-power, or one 
horse-power is equal to 746 watts. It derives its 
name from James Watt, a Scottish engineer and 
inventor. 


A KILOWATT :— 
A unit of electric power, equal to one thousand 
watts, especially applied to the output of dynamos. 


Electric power is usually expressed in kilowatts. 
The kilowatt equals 1000/746 or 1.34 horse-power. 


Kilo is of Greek origin and means one thousand. 


A KILOWATT-HOUR:— . 


A kilowatt-hour means the work performed by 
one kilowatt of electric power during an hour’s 
time. 


HORSE-POWER:— 


A unit of mechanical power, the power required 
to raise 550 pounds to the height of one foot in 
one second, or 33,000 pounds to that height in a 
minute. Horse-power involves three elements: 
force, distance and time. If we express the force 
in pounds and the distance passed through in 
feet, it is the solution of and the meaning for the 
term “foot pounds.” Hence a foot pound is a 
resistance equal to one pound moved one foot. 


James Watt, to obtain data as to actual per- 
formance in continuous work, experimented with 
powerlul horses, and found that one traveling 
2¥2 miles per hour, or 220 feet per minute, and 
harnessed to a rope leading over a pulley and 
down a vertical shaft could haul up a weight 
averaging 100 pounds, equaling 22,000 foot pounds 
per minute. 

To give good measure, Watt increased the 
measurement by 50 per cent, thus getting the 
familiar unit of 33,000 minute foot pounds. 


HORSE-POWER, ELECTRIC :— 

A unit of electrical work, expressed in watts. It 
is equal to 746 watts. To express the rate of doing 
electrical work in mechanical horse-power units, 
divide the number of watts by 746. 


ELECTRICAL CURRENT :— 


Current is the term applied to a flow of elec- 
tricity through a conductor. 


DIRECT CURRENT :— 


Direct or continuous current flows constantly 
in one direction and cannot be sent any great 
distance; hence its use is limited to congested 
centers of thickly populated cities. It can be 
stored in storage batteries and so is advantageous 
for emergency use from such sources of supply. 


ALTERNATING CURRENT :— 


Alternating current flows first in one direction, 
then reverses, but in commercial circuits the al- 
ternations are so fast that the changes cannot be 
detected in an electric light bulb by the naked eye. 
Alternating current can be sent economically over 
comparatively great distances, and, therefore, is 
now used almost universally. 


12 


MOANA 


0112 042800679 
THE PART ELECTRICITY PLAYED 


IN THE MAKING OF THIS BOOK 





The type—Set by an electric machine. 

The illustrations — Electricity furnished the 
bright artificial light, drying heat and current used 
in the engraving process. 

Electrotypes—Made by electrically depositing 
copper on wax moulds. 

The Printing—The presses were run by elec- 
tricity. 

Folding—An electric folding machine saved 
hours of hand-labor. 

Binding—The machines that stitched the pages 
were run by electricity. 

Cutting—Electric paper cutters trimmed the- 
pages to the proper size. 


How to Use This Bulletin: 


NOTE—There are four ends of speech, or in © 
other words, four purposes for which men speak: 
first, to make an idea clear; second, to make an 
idea impressive; third, to make men believe some- 
thing, that is, to convince; and, lastly, to lead men 
to action. 


Suggested topics for theme writing; oral eng- 
lish and current topics discussions. 


1. To Make an Idea Clear: 
Describe the electrical equipment of this com- 
munity. 

2. To Make an Idea Impressive: 
A—The new world created by electrical in- 
ventions. 
B—The influence of superpower or intercon- 
nection of electric transmission lines on the 
United States. 


3. To Convince: 
Debate. Resolved: That Electricity Has Had 
a Greater Effect Upon Human Life than Have 
the Railroads. 
4. To Secure Action: 
Make our city the best electrically equipped 
city in the state. 
Other Topics: 
1. An electrically equipped home. 
2. Some new uses for electricity. 
3. A short story of Edison’s life. 
4. Possibilities and limitations of electricity 
generated by water power. 
Debate: 
1. Large Central Station Systems Are Prefer- 
able to Many Smaller Plants. 
2. Thomas A. Edison Is America’s Greatest 
Inventor. 


